History of Initiative & Referendum in New Mexico

This article was significantly based on an article published by the Initiative & Referendum Institute and is used with their permission. Some portions of this article may have been adapted from Wikipedia, and information on the page may need to be updated.

The history of initiative and referendum process in New Mexico started in 1910 when statewide referendum was enacted. New Mexico only allows citizen initiatives in the form of veto referendums.

The 1910 state constitutional convention

In 1910 statehood was just around the corner, and New Mexico voters elected delegates to a convention that drew up a constitution for the proposed new state.

Of the 100 delegates, initiative and referendum supporters included 23 Democrats, 19 Democrat-Populist "Fusionists," and at least a dozen independent Republicans: a majority of at least 54 percent. The Albuquerque Journal noted, however, that "every one of the candidates whom the Journal attacked as bosses, railroad attorneys, and corporation lawyers have [sic] been elected to the Constitutional Convention."

The Republican Party, which dominated the convention with 58 delegates, set up procedures so that its leaders - the anti-I&R "Old Guard" - ran the meeting. The independent Republicans were enticed to drop their push for I&R by a promise of support for their pet proposal, a constitutional provision mandating popular election of state supreme court justices and corporation commissioners. Once this was done, the Democrats and Fusionists knew that the Republican leaders could prevent I&R from even coming up for a vote. Rather than lose on both initiative and referendum, the Democrats and Fusionists decided to drop initiative and push for a referendum provision alone.

The referendum provision passed by a vote of 65 to 25 in October 1910. A month later the convention approved the entire constitution, which was then sent to the voters for ratification. It passed, although there was much public dissatisfaction with the lack of an initiative provision.

George Judson King, a leader of the national I&R movement who visited New Mexico while the convention was in progress, described the situation as typical: "It is the same story here as in every state, people for it, corporations against it, politicians trying to straddle the issue and save their scalps."

1912-2022

See also: List of New Mexico ballot measures

In New Mexico, bills passed by the state legislature can be put before voters through a veto referendum petition. Through November of 2022, three veto referendums have been on the ballot in New Mexico.

• Signature requirement: 10 percent of registered voters for a referendum and 25 percent to suspend the law until voters decide the law's fate
• Successful veto referendum petitions may or may not suspend the targeted law until the election depending on the number of signatures verified.
• In New Mexico, a veto referendum's repeal option needs to receive at least 40 percent of the total votes cast at the election.
• Result of a yes or for vote: targeted law upheld
• Result of a no or against vote: targeted law repealed
• Does not allow for veto referendums on emergency legislation

Year	State	Subject	Measure	Outcome for target law
1964	New Mexico	Elections	Referendum: Nominating Conventions for Candidates Referendum	Upheld
1950	New Mexico	Elections	Referendum: Nominating Conventions for Candidates Referendum	Upheld
1930	New Mexico	Taxes	Referendum: Two-Cent Tax on Cigarettes	Repealed

See also

• List of New Mexico ballot measures

---